Kardashian Kollection Accused of Design Piracy

[Update]: The Kardashian sisters respond to accusations that one of their designs is a copy of the handbag line Botkier.

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August 12, 2011Lindsay Flans

The Kardashian Kollection—a line of women’s clothing, accessories and intimates—arrived at Sears this week, and wasn’t completely well-received.

The collection, which is designed by sisters Kim, Kourtney and Khloe Kardashian, came under fire from luxe handbag line Botkier. Womenswear designer Monica Botkier felt that her ‘Clyde’ bag looked exactly like one of the Kardashian Kollection purses.

After recently participating in the ‘You Can’t Fake Fashion’ project for CFDA/eBay, as one 50 designers trying to take a stand against design piracy, Botkier took to her blog August 10 in a post titled ‘K is for Knock-off.’

“We just discovered how our Botkier ‘Clyde’ was simply copied by Kardashian Kollection for Sears,” she said. “They say imitation is the highest form of flattery but we don’t think so.”

Sears has since removed the bag from their website, but the sisters will continue to promote their label with a Kardashian Kollection for Sears launch party in Hollywood August 17.

The Kardashian's fired back at the allegations in the following statement:

We are aware of claims being made by Monica Botkier in the media that one of the bags in the Kardashian Kollection for Sears is similar to a Botkier bag. It is our understanding that, contrary to media reports, Sears has not received any cease and desist letter on behalf of Botkier.

Jupi is nevertheless investigating the matter, as we take this issue seriously. In any event, it is our understanding that the Kardashian Kollection bag in question has not yet been offered for general sale. Nor is it available for sale online. Pending our investigation of the matter, we have undertaken appropriate preventative measures regarding the handbag.

The Kardashian Kollection handbag was independently created. Jupi was surprised to hear of the complaints by Botkier since Jupi is aware of preexisting handbag designs bearing substantial style similarities to the 2009 Botkier Clyde handbag, dating back to 2005. Jupi was also surprised by Botkier’s statements in the media about purported "knock offs" of Botkier handbags in light of other comments in the media noting the similarity of Botkier bags to preexisting Balenciaga bags.